A very unique and difficult attempt

Today, the luthier Giannis Tsoulogiannis sent me a photo from the process of the mandolino-bouzouko conversion project.

The luthier in an attempt to keep all original parts of the old Sicilian mandolin, decided to use a very unique and difficult approach.

Usually, when converting an old mandolin to miso-bouzouko / mandolin-tzourado , the luthier removes and replaces the wooden block-chock at the front of the bowl (where the bowl connects to the neck), the wooden block under the tailpiece, the complete neck, the head-stock, and most of the times the sound board, keeping only intact the mandolin bowl.
But such a musical instrument is too far apart from the sound output which a 1936 mandolin-tzourado , with its authentic soundboard, would produce.

Giannis Tsoulogiannis instead, keeps all original parts of the old mandolin, both wooden blocks inside the bowl, the original head-stock, the original neck by adding an extension, and of course the original soundboard and bowl.

A very detailed and demanding process ,which hides many risks.
But at the end, here lies the uniqueness and beauty of this attempt!

Since up to today, only few people have heard the original sound of such a conversion , the attempt to convert a vintage mandolin to miso-bouzouko, deserves great importance in the historical research of the bouzouki ancestors' sound.